Questor Insurance News

Holidays to Balearic Islands most popular among leading travel agents

Holidays to the Balearic Islands continue to be a popular choice among British travellers this summer, according to Tui Travel operators Thomson and First Choice.

Consisting of four larger islands, including Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera, the Balearic Islands continue to attract record numbers of UK travellers – with 196,892 visiting in April this year.

The Balearic Islands have continued to grow in popularity among British travellers, with some resorts in Majorca revealing they were 100% booked up into late September last year.

Figures from the travel operators also show that both Bulgaria and Croatia have grown in popularity, with a 21% and 17% increase in bookings during 2017 respectively.

Both First Choice and Thomson reported a sudden surge in last-minute bookings during the first week of August, mainly due to poor weather in the UK.

August also saw a large number of short break reservations, with both three and four-night bookings seeing a 150% rise when compared with last summer.

Thomson Cruises’ fleet of six ships has welcomed more than 195,000 passengers and has stopped off at 117 ports this summer.

More than 5,400 return flights were made to summer holiday destinations by Thomson Airway’s fleet of 64 aircraft – which equates to more than 41,000 hours in the air – enough to fly around the world more than 600 times.

Through the Tui Family Life resorts, around 2,300 children were taught to swim this summer as families enjoyed their well-earned breaks.

Product Director at Tui, Mark Hall, insists it has been a great summer for the tourism industry and believes the statistics show that there is a high demand from travellers eager to escape the bad weather in the UK.

Despite economic strain in recent years, Brits have continued to travel, with the Office for National Statistics revealing that UK residents made 12 million visits abroad in 2016.

If you’re thinking of travelling abroad this year, be sure to organise your last-minute travel insurance in advance